


Crossing (Love) Lines

by petroltogo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental matchmaking, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Mythology, M/M, Matchmaking, Multi, Mythical Being Tony, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Pre-Stuckony, Starcrosser AU, Starcrosser Pepper, Starcrosser Rhodey, Starcrosser Tony, The Super Soldier Serum Has Unexpected Consequences, Tony Tries To Fix Things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 23:37:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12758586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petroltogo/pseuds/petroltogo
Summary: "Tony didn’t mean to match them."Tony’s responsibility were the True Loves. The destined ones. The star-crossed lovers. Or at least that was how it was supposed to be. Too bad Tony liked messing with The Plan. And got bored easily. On the bright side, there was a war building once more. Mortals always loved more interesting in times of war.





	Crossing (Love) Lines

Tony didn’t mean to match them. He wasn’t  _supposed_  to match them. By Eros, the tiny blond one already had a match–a pretty woman with a spine made of steel–and Tony despises paperwork.

But he’d been walking down the streets of Brooklyn when he’d gotten distracted by the sounds of a fight. Tony had never had a particular steady grasp on his curiosity so of course he’d followed the sound.

He hadn’t been happy about finding a couple of guys beating up a boy at least a head smaller than they were–old habit of rooting for the underdog probably. He’d actually contemplated matching the small blonde with the leader of his attackers. A reflexive itch in his fingers to mess with the Fates’ plan, if you will.

Also it would’ve been funny as hell.

But starcrossers weren’t supposed to mess with the love lines, unless it was decreed by the Fates of course, and besides rescue arrived before Tony got the chance to do anything.

The rescue turned out to be a young man in a soldier’s uniform who just so happened to walk straight through Tony–mortals and their lack of Amor, seriously–causing Tony’s entire body to tingle.

 _Curse the Fates_.

Of course this particular mortal just had to be sensitive to Tony’s Amor. Of freaking course. Tony could see the mortal’s love line light up like a shooting star on the night’s sky, and he knew he only had limited time before the love would latch on to something. Anything.

He reacted on instinct, Tony would later maintain, because guiding love was what starcrossers did. So Tony threw himself at the blonde who was only just struggling to his feet, and as the guy’s love line caught on fire Tony crossed the lines, united the sparks like they were meant to be.

Unfortunately they weren’t.

Tony stayed to watch for a while, the gleam in their eyes, the easy affection, and couldn’t bring himself to regret what he’d done. That wouldn’t stop him from cursing the mortals once Eros appeared on his figurative doorstep to scold him and bury him under paperwork out of spite though. Not by a long shot.

*

Love lines, once crossed, don’t break. They may dull, fade, fray or wither. But they don’t break. Not through betrayal, not through hatred or death. Love lines don’t break. Period.

Except this one did. Eros probably had a heart attack when it happened. Too bad Tony hadn’t been around to see it. He’d felt it though. They all had.

It was frankly disturbing.

Naturally it was all Tony’s fault.

Because he had matched two mortals that weren’t meant to be. Like that didn’t happen all the time. Just the other week Rhodey had accidentally matched a child with an octopus. An  _octopus_. And what about, oh, I don’t know, the  _Trojan war_  Pepper had started when she’d matched Helena with Paris because she’d wanted to spice things up a bit?

But nooo, the kid was delighted to have an eight-armed playmate and the Trojan war was centuries ago,  _you really need to get over it and move on, Tones_. But clearly Tony was the only one who messed up by matching two human friends.

And of course it fell to him to investigate the mess, considering he’d caused it in the first place. Yeah. They sure had tied that up in a neat, little bow. 

So. Off to some stupid military base it is.

*

Tony was not gaping at a mortal. He was not. (Thank the Fates nobody was around to contradict him.)

The file in his hand confirmed that this was indeed mortal  _Rogers, Steve_  and his love line sure was messed up enough to fit the profile but  _Eros be damned_. This was not the tiny blonde Tony remembered.

This was–damn.

On a slightly more professional note, the broken love line was healing. Which it wasn’t supposed to do either, but whatever. Tony wasn’t really in the mood to do much more than admire the mortal (and maybe envy the friend he’d gifted this one to. Lucky guy.) 

Still, he did have a job to do here. So after a–long–moment he spent staring, Tony finally focused on  _Rogers, Steve_ ’s love lines for real and  _oh_. Now that was interesting.

The love line that had previously bound him to  _Barnes, James_  hadn’t healed itself so much as erased itself. Whatever  _Rogers, Steve_  had done–Tony didn’t know much about mortals, but he’d been around long enough to recognise the limits of their physiology thank you–it had stripped him off all his previous love lines without, apparently, leaving any damage.

Though Tony was hesitant to bet on that last part. No mortal could have messed with his Amor on such a level without causing some kind of harm.

With narrowed eyes Tony took a hold of the rapidly dissolving love line that was oh so familiar to him and  _pulled_. The resulting backlash would’ve blasted him through the nearest wall, if not for the fact that he wasn’t strictly speaking corporal.

Alright then. Clearly  _Barnes, James_ ’ end of the line was doing just fine. If anything the line on his side was stronger than any Tony had ever come across in a mortal.

Tony frowned. This wouldn’t do. He’d done many an unwise match in his youth but never had he ever left a match uncompleted. It meant to inflict the worst torture known to Eros, that of true, irrevocable, forever unrequited love onto a mortal. If the love line had been broken on both sides, perhaps Tony could have left things as they were, but this?

No. He would not shoulder the responsibility of this tragedy waiting to happen. He refused to allow it.

Somehow–mostly by watching  _Rogers, Steve_  walk and drink and eat and talk and laugh and  _walk_ –Tony managed to occupy himself until  _Rogers, Steve_  was finally alone in a small shower trail. 

Not one to waste any time Tony took full hold of the  _Barnes, James_ ’ love line that still stubbornly clung to  _Rogers, Steve_ , gripped  _Rogers, Steve_ ’s Amor with the other hand and got to work. By which he meant kissing  _Rogers, Steve_  on the lips.

Hey, Tony didn’t make the rules.

(Fine, the cheek would’ve been enough but you didn’t walk up to a guy looking like  _Rogers, Steve_  and not kissed him on the lips when you had the chance, Tony will insistently tell you.)

And Eros be damned but _Rogers, Steve_  was a  _great_  kisser. 

It took a second or two for Tony’s dazed mind to process that thought and rear back in shock.

To come face to face to an equally dazed  _Rogers, Steve_ blinking at him in confusion.

“What–Where– _Who are you?_ ”

 _Curse the Fates_. 

Staring open-mouthed at  _Rogers, Steve_ , who was looking at him like he could see him, both his hands still buried elbow-deep in the (naked, wet) man’s Amor, Tony for once in his life couldn’t think of anything to say.

_Forget the octopus. Rhodey is never gonna let me live this down._

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always welcome! :)
> 
> Follow me on tumblr: [tonystarktogo](http://tonystarktogo.tumblr.com/).


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